Making the most of Canada's weather data

In Canada, there are thousands of monitoring stations collecting important weather and climate information, in addition to the nation’s official source, Environment and Climate Change Canada's (ECCC). To increase the quality of data from diverse sources and facilitate wider sharing of that data for public benefit, SCC collaborated with the Meteorological Service of Canada at ECCC, the British Columbia Ministry of Environment and Climate Change Strategy, and CSA Group to develop awareness-raising posters for the CSA R100 series of National Standards of Canada relating to hydrometeorological stations:

• CSA R100:20 Canadian metadata standard for hydrometeorological monitoring stations
• CSA R102:22 Data qualification for Canadian automated hydrometeorological monitoring stations
• CSA R101:22 Automated hydrometeorological monitoring stations: Site selection, instrument installation, and instrument maintenance
• CSA R103:23 Protocols for sharing automated hydrometeorological monitoring stations data and metadata

Funded by SCC's Artificial Intelligence and Data Governance (AIDG) Program and designed by KAP Design, the posters use plain language and non-technical illustrations and target non-ECCC owners and operators of both new and existing hydrometeorological stations. Each poster addresses the needs of a specific user type:

• "So you want to monitor the weather?" (blue) speaks to new network administrators, highlighting key stages in the network creation process where the standards can be utilized.
• "So you want to improve your weather monitoring network?" (green) is mainly aimed at existing network administrators, highlighting potential network improvements or enhancements that the standards can support.
• "So you want to implement a new network?" (purple) is for new network operators, highlighting key stages in the network management process where the standards can be utilized.
• "So you want to streamline network operations and keep your users happy?" (orange) is for existing operators, highlighting potential technical or data-related challenges which could be addressed through the standards.
   

The Canadian Data Governance Roadmap acknowledged that Canada must realize the benefits that flow from data to drive growth, identifying data collection, sharing, and interoperability as key standardization areas to facilitate a digital, sustainable, and innovative economy. With enough uptake, the R100 standards can improve knowledge of how the climate is changing across Canada and help Canadians prepare for the future. This series is an excellent example of how standards can facilitate quality data sharing, thereby harnessing its surplus value Implemented widely, the R100 standards can improve knowledge of how the climate is changing across Canada and help Canadians prepare for the future. The posters are intended to support this uptake.

The standards, funded by SCC's Standards to Support Resilience in Infrastructure Program and developed by CSA Group, can be found here.
Learn more about the AIDG Program, and download the Canadian Data Governance Standardization Roadmap. 
 

Download the posters